Shloka 11

Avadhūta’s Further Teachers: Detachment, Solitude, One-Pointed Meditation, and the Lord as Āśraya

Devanagari script

मन एकत्र संयुञ्ज्याज्जितश्वासो जितासन: । वैराग्याभ्यासयोगेन ध्रियमाणमतन्द्रित: ॥ ११ ॥

Transliteration

mana ekatra saṁyuñjyāj jita-śvāso jitāsanaḥ vairāgyābhyāsa-yogena dhriyamāṇam atandritaḥ

Translation

အာသနကို ကျွမ်းကျင်စွာ ထိုင်နိုင်ပြီး အသက်ရှုလုပ်ငန်းစဉ်ကို ထိန်းနိုင်သော်၊ စိတ်ကို တစ်ချက်တည်းသို့ စုစည်းရမည်။ ဝိုင်ရာဂျျ (မကပ်လှုပ်မယ့်စိတ်) နှင့် စည်းကမ်းတကျ ယောဂလေ့ကျင့်မှုဖြင့် မပျင်းမရိပ်ဘဲ စိတ်ကို တည်ငြိမ်စေသင့်သည်။

Synonyms

• manaḥ: the mind
• manaḥ: Karma (कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: manas (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, द्वितीया (2nd/द्वितीया), एकवचन; accusative singular (object)

• ekatra: in one place
• ekatra: Adhikaraṇa (अधिकरण)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: ekatra (अव्यय)
• Form: देशवाचक-अव्यय (adverb of place) ‘in one place’

• saṁyuñjyāt: should concentrate
• saṁyuñjyāt: Kriyā (क्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: sam-√yuj (धातु)
• Form: विधिलिङ् (optative), प्रथमपुरुष, एकवचन; परस्मैपद; ‘should yoke/compose (it)’

• jita-śvāsaḥ: having controlled the breath
• jita-śvāsaḥ: Karta (कर्ता)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: jita (कृदन्त, √ji) + śvāsa (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, एकवचन; कर्मधारय/तत्पुरुष ‘whose breath is conquered’; past passive participle used adjectivally

• jita-āsanaḥ: having mastered the posture
• jita-āsanaḥ: Karta (कर्ता)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: jita (कृदन्त, √ji) + āsana (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, एकवचन; ‘having mastered posture/seat’

• vairāgya-abhyāsa-yogena: by the discipline of detachment and practice
• vairāgya-abhyāsa-yogena: Karaṇa (करण)
• Type: Noun
• Root: vairāgya (प्रातिपदिक) + abhyāsa (प्रातिपदिक) + yoga (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, तृतीया (3rd/तृतीया), एकवचन; instrumental singular ‘by the yoga of dispassion and practice’

• dhriyamāṇam: being steadily held
• dhriyamāṇam: Karma (कर्म)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: dhriyamāṇa (कृदन्त, √dhṛ)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, द्वितीया, एकवचन; वर्तमानकाले कर्मणि शानच्/मान (present passive participle) ‘being held/maintained’ (qualifies manaḥ)

• atandritaḥ: unwearied, vigilant
• atandritaḥ: Karta (कर्ता)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: a-tandrita (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, एकवचन; ‘not lazy/untiring’

Purport

One should develop vairāgya, or detachment, by observing that all material things are doomed. Thus one should take to the regulated practice of yoga, which in this age means the process of chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. According to Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura, the avadhūta brāhmaṇa is recommending bhakti-miśra aṣṭāṅga-yoga, or the eightfold mystic yoga process performed as an offering to the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Characters & Entities

• Uddhava
• Kṛṣṇa
• Avadhūta (Dattātreya)

FAQs

What does the Srimad Bhagavatam say about controlling the mind in meditation?

This verse teaches to fix the mind on one point and steady it through two supports—abhyāsa (consistent practice) and vairāgya (detachment)—along with disciplined breath and posture.

Why did Krishna speak these yoga instructions to Uddhava in Canto 11?

In the Uddhava-gītā, Kṛṣṇa prepares Uddhava for spiritual steadiness and renunciation; He presents the Avadhūta’s method to show how inner discipline leads to freedom from material distraction.

Practical application of abhyasa and vairagya in modern life?

Practice daily focused sādhana (japa, reading, meditation) at a fixed time, and cultivate detachment by reducing avoidable distractions and cravings—so the mind learns to remain steady and purposeful.